Portuguese Bonds In Meltdown

The Moody’s downgrade of Portugal has led to a brutal sell off in Portuguese debt in morning trade which has seen Portuguese 10 year bond yields surge from 11.02% to 12.23%. Yields on Portuguese two-year notes soared 212 basis points to over 15.14 percent. There is increasing speculation that another downgrading of Ireland is imminent and Ireland’s 10 year yield has surged to over 12%.

Portugal received a $112 billion loan package only two months ago. It was due to sell 1 billion euros of treasury bills today but the Portuguese government debt agency IGCP said it sold 848 million euros of bills due in October.

Portugal is a reminder that Greece is just the tip of the iceberg and Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Hungary in Europe and the U.S. itself face similar challenges, of greater and lesser degrees.

1 thought on “Portuguese Bonds In Meltdown”

There was a time when markets were regulated, as a result, the stock markets reflected the real economy. What is happening in Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy and others in the Euro is affecting the entire globe. I went to Bloomberg, and both the Dow and NASDEQ are way up today. Why? Because the US markets are rigged, as false and crooked as any shylock system in history. 80% of all trades on the Big Board are High Frequency Transactions, a few people controlling hundreds of millions of dollars in huge funds buy and sell huge blocks of stock in less than 8 seconds. In other words, they are skimming, not trading. In a decent system, it would be illegal. The amount of individuals buying in are declining sharply, they don’t have a chance against these people.
When the NYSE was sold to Germany a few months back, it sold for NO CASH, all stock and Germany now holds 60% to US 40%. The story was buried by MSM. The sale of the largest stock exchange in the world changed hands without a murmer. Reason: Investors are leaving the US markets in droves because they no longer trust them. Money is leaving the USA by the billions every day.
This story ought to be on the front page of the NY Times and any other credible news organization. It isn’t. Go to Huffington Post, their headline reads “tax the rich” and other stuff. It is pathetic.
Thank you so much for covering these important stories. Too bad other sites don’t follow your example.
Sincerely,
Marilyn Gjerdrum